


Awful Heart

by SassRepublic



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Enemies to Lovers, Kylux Big Bang 2019, M/M, POV Kylo Ren, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Protective Kylo Ren, Sniper Armitage Hux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-17 06:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20616164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassRepublic/pseuds/SassRepublic
Summary: Snoke sends Hux and Kylo on a mission to secure the supply routes that will be needed for Hux's new weapon. Kylo is furious that he's expected to waste his time babysitting Hux, who he sees as nothing more than a glorified bureaucrat.  When the mission goes wrong Kylo finds that he just might have to reevaluate that opinion.





	Awful Heart

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for the Kylux Reverse Mini Bang 2019  
Prompt and art by the wonderful and talented Amiko, on [Tumblr](https://amikoroyaiart.tumblr.com/) and on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AmikoRoyAi)
> 
> You can also find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/fandumbitch) if you're in to that sort of thing.

The problem with Colonel Hux, Kylo has decided, is that he lacks the proper respect. A man like that ought to know his place, he ought to understand who his betters are and defer to their judgment. Unfortunately it seems no one had ever taken him aside during what Kylo can only assume was a singularly pampered childhood and explained this to him.

Kylo is watching the jumped up little ferret stand before his Master, perhaps one of the greatest Force users in the galaxy, yammering about thermal oscillators and stability fields and securing supply routes. Something about needing the Trezivis System to allow the First Order use their shipping lanes so they could transport materials from the outer and mid rim without the New Republic's knowledge. Apparently they couldn’t take them by force without drawing unwanted attention.

Kylo isn’t entirely sure, he’d stopped listening some time ago and is fully consumed by the  _ audacity _ of the man. Completely Force null, rank due entirely to nepotism, and he stands there telling his Master what should be done with the resources of the First Order as if he has a right.

The truly galling aspect of it all is that Snoke listens to the man. Kylo already knows what’s coming, that Master Snoke has already made the decision to send Hux to secure the necessary supply routes. His Master informed Kylo the he was expected to accompany the Colonel on this mission. Snoke  _ values _ the awful little sycophant for reasons Kylo can not fathom and he has been instructed to make sure Hux is returned to the fleet in working order.

Kylo had argued against the decision. Hux was nothing but a useless bureaucrat, he’d insisted, and his involvement in such a mission was unnecessary and dangerous. Snoke had cut him off before he could properly argue his case. The decision was made and he was expected to obey. Kylo had bowed his head but seethed inwardly.

There is one bright spot, however. Hux does not know that Kylo is being sent along to play babysitter. Kylo is absolutely, gleefully certain that the Colonel is going to be  _ livid _ when he finds out. 

If there is no version of the galaxy that can deliver an appropriately respectful Hux, Kylo has learned that an angry Hux is the next best thing. That perfect affected accent gets clipped and sputtery, those very green eyes flash, and he turns a very interesting shade of red. And Hux puffing up and snarling at him like an angry cat is infinitely preferable to superior, uninterested disdain.

Hux has finally stopped talking and Master Snoke is informing him that he has been chosen to head the mission. He’s practically  _ preening _ and Kylo wants to gag.

“It is of the utmost importance that you secure an agreement with the Trezivis System without attracting the attention of the New Republic. I am entrusting this task to you, Colonel. If you succeed I will allow you to begin construction of your weapon as soon as a suitable planet is found. We shall also have to discuss an appropriate change of rank for these new responsibilities.” Snoke says.

Although outwardly calm, Kylo can feel Hux practically vibrating within the Force. “Thank you, Supreme Leader, I will not let you down.” He bows his head, gravely accepting the Supreme Leader’s trust.

_ What a prat. _

Snoke gestures for Kylo to step forward. “To ensure that nothing goes awry, and to ensure your safety, Colonel, my apprentice shall be accompanying you.”

The sense of smug satisfaction evaporates immediately. 

Hux’s voice goes high and clipped “Supreme Leader, forgive me, but that’s entirely unnecessary. I am perfectly capable of protecting myself, and as you can see in my proposal I have assembled some of my best officers to accompany me. They are all highly decorated men and women with top marks from the Academy. They have served loyally and competently and we can trust them completely to support me in carrying out this mission.”

Of course he would bring up his beloved Academy. Hux loves to talk up the accolades he’d received in his school days. Top marks in every class, expert in every subject, Kylo had heard it all before. As far as he could tell this Academy was a glorified finishing school for the children of Officers. They learned speechmaking and schmoozing and how to look down their noses at everyone  _ just so _ . He fully believed Hux must have excelled in that last course. And was he really ignorant enough the believe any honors he’d received were his own doing? As Kylo understood it, the senior Hux had run the school. Obviously Hux has been coasting on nepotism since boyhood.

Hux was still talking, “While Lord Ren certainly has his uses on the battlefield,” he was saying, his lip curling in distaste, “he is a blunt instrument, incapable of the delicate diplomacy required on this mission. Why bring a hammer to do the job of a scalpel? His presence will only complicate-”

Kylo cut him off, fuming. “You know nothing,  _ Colonel _ ! I have the Force, and all that comes with it, behind me. You can’t possibly imagine the powers I wield! You-”

“Enough!” Snoke’s voice cut across them both. “My decision is final. You shall both do as I bid you and if you fail me you will suffer for it. Am I understood?”

“My apologies, Supreme Leader, as you say.” Hux said, that grovelling tone back in his voice.

“I will not fail you, Master.”  _ That stupid, pretentious little… _

Snoke dismisses them, and they turn to leave. They walk out together in silence, neither wanting to risk further irritating the Supreme Leader. This cease-fire breaks the moment the doors of the lift close behind them. 

Hux snaps around to face Kylo. “If the Supreme Leader wants you along as some kind of bodyguard I expect you to stay out of my way. These negotiations are vital to the future of the First Order. I won’t have you karking it all up because you decide to throw a tantrum.”

“You  _ dare _ speak to me like this? Do I need to remind you that I don’t take orders from you?  _ No one _ in this fleet should be taking orders from you! You only have your rank because your father handed it to you.” Kylo snarls, his voice crackling through his vocoder. Hux looks a little like he’s been slapped. 

“You’re nothing but the pampered son of an Imperial Officer. You have no  _ real _ combat experience, I doubt you even know which end of a blaster to hold! The only thing you could possibly be any good for is kissing ass on some useless backwater planet and you still need someone with actual skill along to make sure you don’t get yourself killed.”

The lift doors choose that moment to ping open. Hux has gone from looking gobsmacked to looking like he thinks Kylo has lost his mind. He opens his mouth, but seems to think better of it and turns to go.

Kylo can’t just let him  _ leave.  _ He wanted a proper fight with Hux, not just this… disdain. “You don’t deserve the trust Mast Snoke places in you! You have no respect for the power of the Force-”

Eyes flashing, Hux turns on his feel to face Kylo, cutting him off. “It’s not the ‘Force’ I have a problem with, Ren, it’s you. You’re ignorant and arrogant and even the  _ Supremacy _ isn’t big enough for your inflated ego. You don’t know half as much as you think you do and I’m tired of cleaning up your messes because you can’t abide the thought that you might actually be wrong about something.” Hux flipped the collar of his greatcoat up around his ears. “Now if you’ll excuse me,  _ Lord Ren, _ I have a mission to prepare.”

Kylo watches him go, furious and strangely disappointed.

* * *

Kylo spends most of the shuttle flight to the Trezivis System pretending to meditate. In reality he’s sullenly watching Hux go over the mission dossier he prepared with his gaggle of Lieutenants. The Colonel had handed Kylo a datapad with the dossier when he’d boarded but Kylo had tossed it aside. He didn’t need Hux’s help to navigate the Ruling Council. Master Snoke had already advised Kylo that none of the council members were anything approaching force sensitive. He would be able to read them easily, to ferret out all of their weaknesses with a thought, while Hux flailed around uselessly trying to curry favor. Kylo tried to let the thought temper his bad mood but he was still disappointed that he hadn’t managed a proper screaming match with Hux in the lift before they left the Supremacy.

Hux never gives him the reaction he wants. He’s so  _ difficult _ to goad into a real fight. Kylo tells himself it’s simply more proof that Hux is a coward and resolves, once again, to stop caring about what Hux is or is not paying attention to. He’s still watching Hux confer with his men when the Colonel glances over at him. Despite the mask he feels like he’s been caught staring.

The shuttle lands and Kylo and Hux disembark. They’re greeted by the High Councilor and his two closest advisors. Hux greets them by name and Kylo reaches out to them while they go through their ridiculous rituals. The High Councilor is cautiously interested in coming to an agreement with the First Order. He remembers the prestige that his system achieved under Imperial rule and he has been chafing under the restrictions placed on him by the New Republic. The man has visions of expansion beyond his meagre three planet system and the Republic has spent the past decades dismantling the armada he built under the Empire and neutering his monopoly of the shipping lanes to the Outer Rim. 

The other Councilor feels much the same as his superior, and Kylo gathers that the people of the Trezivis system fervently share in this resentment of the New Republic. The third man stands apart. To say he is displeased with the First Order’s presence would be an understatement. He is furious with the decision to even entertain these talks. He plans to do whatever is necessary to keep the First Order away. Kylo shifts his attention back to the external. Their hosts are motioning them to follow and Hux is giving Kylo a look like he just  _ knows _ that Kylo wasn’t paying attention. Little does Hux know, Kylo already has better intel than Hux could have ever hoped to gather.

The High Councilor and his entourage show them to their rooms. The flock of Lieutenants are sequestered into their own set of smalls rooms and Hux and Kylo are shown to two large suites with an adjoining lounge. Hux thanks their hosts graciously but Kylo can feel his irritation at the shared space seeping through. 

Kylo gives Hux exactly twenty minutes in his private rooms before he barges in. He’d meant to wait a little longer, perhaps toy with Hux a little on the way to dinner, but he finds he can’t wait to gloat. He tells Hux what he learned about the malcontented Councilor and his plans to block any arrangement with the First Order. 

Hux’s irritation with the intrusion fades to confusion. “Do you mean Councilor Guilon? Didn't you read the dossier? We already know. I suspect that he’s connected to the resistance cell that’s been active in the Trezivis system in the last year but I can’t actually prove anything.” Hux narrows his eyes at Kyo. “Don’t try to get clever about this Ren. Guilon is the High Councilors cousin. He’s extremely protective of his family. As long as there’s no proof of treason he’ll never act against him.”

Kylo has the distinct impression that Hux knew his mouth was hanging open despite the mask. He continued, smug “Regardless, we’ll just have to work around him. Public opinion is overwhelmingly against the New Republic. It shouldn’t be difficult to back him into a corner.” Hux’s tone turned dismissive as his attention shifted to his datapad. “Did you need anything else or did you simply barge into my room to tell me something I already know?”

Kylo snarled beneath his mask, the sound escaping the vocoder as a hiss of static.  _ The arrogant little  _ shit! “As usual,  _ Colonel _ , you overestimate yourself. That man is prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent the Ruling Council from coming to an agreement with the First Order. I have  _ seen _ it. Disregard my warnings at your own risk!” 

Kylo turns to storm out and wrenches the doors open with a vicious tug of the force. He catches a stray though from Hux. Almost as if it had been tossed after him on purpose.  _ Dramatic child. _ Kylo slams the doors to Hux’s room shut, as if they could drown out the disrespect. 

_ What does that jumped up little sycophant know? He’s spent his entire spoiled existence coasting by on his Imperial fathers reputation. Between his ridiculous “combat” simulations and that glorified finishing school he calls an academy he’s never seen any _ real _ danger in his life. That pampered officers brat probably doesn’t even know which end of a blaster to hold.  _

It takes every ounce of self control Kylo possesses not to reduce the room to rubble. He can’t afford to embarrass his Master now. All he has to do is stand by and watch Hux’s arrogance blow this mission and then he can finally be rid of him. Hell finally have something to point to that proves that all Hux is good for is running his mouth and talking his way into positions above his station. 

_ Snoke will finally see him for the useless rat he really is.  _

* * *

Kylo is still stewing at dinner. Their hosts are throwing a lavish reception with the best delicacies the galaxy has to offer. He hasn’t seen such a spread since his childhood in the core, trailing behind Leia. It all looks phenomenal but Kylo is committed to keeping his helmet on.

Hux had come yapping after him just before they were to head to the reception hall, blathering about some etiquette primer from the dossier. He had some sort of awful dress uniform he wanted Kylo to change into. Kylo had ignited his lightsaber and cut them to tatters in lieu of acknowledging the request. Hux had huffed and puffed and snapped that he ought to at least leave “that ghastly helmet” in his room before stomping out again. 

Obviously removing the helmet to eat would be a sign of weakness. Hux had no authority over  _ him _ and if Kylo had to forgo the banquet to remind him of that fact he would. 

Unfortunately Hux is distracted from this lesson with some very determined schmoozing. Kylo ignores the drunk heiress currently babbling at him and eavesdrops on Hux. If he has to credit Hux on one point it’s this: the Colonel is a true believer in the First Order’s cause. Kylo has seen enough from Hux to know his passion tips the scales to fanaticism, but he is currently doing an admirable job of sounding reasonable. Kylo watches him holding court with the Ruling Council over glasses of very expensive brandy. He’s going on about the mistakes of the New Republic, all of the ways their oppression has damaged the galaxy. The flow of wealth from the remote systems that need the resources to survive into the Core worlds already awash in excess, the famines in the Outer Rim and the unknown regions caused by Republican sanctions. He’s impassioned and his audience nods along in rapt attention. 

Listening to him Kylo could almost believe that Hux’s interest in the subject was personal. There was a simmering anger beneath his words, especially when he spoke of the famines, as if he felt the pain of those who had survived them. Kylo never would have considered Hux the empathetic sort. He supposes this style of compelling oration is the sort of thing they teach at that officers day-care of an Academy in place of actual combat training. 

Wherever Hux learned it, it was clearly having an effect. The Council members were enraptured by the picture of the future he was painting for them. The predictable exception was Councilor Guilon. The man’s eyes didn’t leave hux’s face, even when someone else spoke up. Kylo watches during a lull in the conversation as Guilon leans over to the High Councilor and murmurs something in his ear. Kylo can feel the man falter in the force, whatever Guilon said sowing doubt in his mind. When his attention turns back to Hux there’s hesitation in him. Hux must notice the change as well because Kylo can feel the spike of frustration.

_ It serves him right. He thinks he knows everything, let him deal with this on his own. Those weasels deserve each other. _

Kylo spends the rest of the evening pretending to ignore Hux.

* * *

On their second day they were supposed to tour the shipyards on the Eastern continent. Hux had ambushed him first thing in the morning, before Kylo was even fully dressed, and started droning about the trip, something about how the New Republic had shut the shipyards down during the push for disarmament. Apparently that loss was a system-wide wound. Kylo hadn’t listened to the details. Hux had eventually grown tired of his dismissiveness, snapped at him to “just read the damn dossier if you don’t want to pay attention Ren I have better things to do with my time than babysit  _ you _ ” He’d been set to go on in that vein, Kylo could tell, but he'd interrupted the rant by throwing a chaise against the wall. Hux had stared at the splintered piece of furniture and walked out.

Kylo had received a comm 20 minutes later from one of Hux’s pet officers, informing him that the Colonel had taken an early shuttle to the shipyards and that a second shuttle was standing by for Lord Ren whenever he was ready. Kylo had sworn and stormed to the hanger. As much as he loathed Hux, Snoke had sent Kylo along to keep an eye on the man and Kylo intended to do his job. He had cursed Hux for being downright  _ childish _ , going off on his own.

They were supposed to tour the shipyards. Instead Kylo was wringing the thoughts out of a screaming pilot in the midst of what remained of Hux’s shuttle. He watched it play out in the woman's memory:  _ Two low orbit fighters waiting in the canyons outside the old shipyards. They had shot Hux’s shuttle down, killed the pilot and the escort provided by the high Council and taken Hux. There had been blood in his hair when they dragged him out, obviously dazed, possibly concussed. The other fighter had loaded him up and left with him. This woman’s fighter and her crew had meant to return as well when they received word that Kylo Ren’s shuttle was enroute. They thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up. _

It had not worked out the way they hoped. Kylo had felt the incoming shot seconds before it hit the shuttle. He’d deflected the first bolt but only managed to change the course of the second to avoid a fatal hit. It still scored, shearing off the port stabilizers. They weren’t trying to bring him down, they were trying to kill him. Whatever they wanted Hux alive for they apparently had no need for Kylo. He had used the Force to protect himself from the crash but the pilot died on impact. It was no matter. Kylo could fly, all he needed was a ship. 

They hadn’t expected him to survive the crash unscathed. It would have been wiser to fire on the wreckage, but they wanted confirmation. The pilot had made the call to set the fighter down and get eyes on his corpse. Now her two gunners are in pieces and Kylo is taking her apart from the inside.

“Where did they take him?” Kylo doesn’t so much ask the question as push the demand into every crevice of the pilot’s mind. He sees a subcontinent almost directly to the south of their current location. There’s a derelict military base, dating back to the Old Republic, abandoned for centuries, now repurposed by these insurgents. Hux had mentioned something about this hadn’t he? When he’d been droning about that ridiculous dossier? Something about a Resistance-funded terror cell operating in the system. Promises to help root them out had been part of the deal offered by the First Order. 

Kylo took a moment to reel at the collective stupidity. An abandoned continent with an abandoned military base, and no one had thought to look? Not that it mattered now, he would handle them all himself.

* * *

The plan  _ should _ have gone smoothly. It was a perfectly good plan. Kylo was going to use the approach codes taken from the dead pilots mind, mind trick the first people he came across into taking him to Hux, fly them back to the fleet, and then come back with a Star Destroyer to level the continent. It was an excellent plan. Maybe Hux would even show a little gratitude for once in his miserable, stuck-up life.

The problem was really nothing more than a momentary lapse in attention. He’d felt odd as he’d gone through the landing sequence; fuzzy and disconnected. He’d told himself to shake it off. That it was likely after affects of the crash, perhaps a mild concussion at worst, but nothing he couldn’t push through. He didn’t realize his mistake until he tried to bend one of the guards to his will and nothing happened. He reached out to the Force, a constant companion to him since his earliest memories, and there was simply nothing there. He very nearly let himself get shot in his shock.

It was pure instinct that had his saber in his hand, deflecting the blot, cutting his enemies down.

In the initial panic he’d pulled his helmet off and thrown it away from him, as if that was what was hampering him. He’d reached, frantically, for any vestige of power but there was nothing he could touch. It was there, he’d realized, present but unreachable. It was as if he’d wrapped his hands in gauze and then tried to write a letter.

His panic had distracted him for too long. By the time he has himself under control the alarms are blaring and the dead men’s comms are announcing an intruder. The plan is blown. With no mind tricked insurgent to lead him to Hux, Kylo will have to find another way to find the Colonel. He has a general idea of where they might be keeping him thanks to the memories he’d taken from the pilot. It would have to be enough to get started.

He centers himself and reaches towards that muted glow of the Force. If he can find something familiar, surely it will lead him to Hux.

* * *

Like a bloodhound, Kylo is following the warm pull inside his head that he is almost completely certain is Hux. As he made his way towards the building he’d seen in the pilot’s mind he had felt it growing stronger. It’s too familiar to be anything but Hux and with his connection to the force dulled that familiarity is his only real lodestone. He feels so  _ close _ and the lack of any detailed sense of direction is supremely frustrating. 

The blaring klaxons only add to his annoyance. The insurgents have proven to be decent targets for his annoyance, although this particular bunker seems mostly devoid of guards. Why would they leave a high value prisoner like Hux so lightly guarded? With the alarms going off and the entire base knowing he was here he’d expected heavier guard wherever they were holding Hux.

_ There. _

Something like a pulse, muted but distinct, came from a closed door at the end of the hall.  _ Hux. _ Kylo is sure of it.

There’s a slumped body next to the door, but Kylo knows he didn’t kill this man. He inspects the body and finds no sign of blaster fire, just an alarmingly large wet stain beginning at a puncture just beneath his left armpit and spreading down his side and across his chest. Someone had severed the mans axillary artery with near surgical precision. Kylo makes a mental note to tell Hux, when he finds him, that there seems to be some kind of infighting going on within the insurgents group. If they’re stabbing each other at the first sign of trouble it would be that much easier to crush them when the time came.

Kylo slips through the opening he’s wedged in the doors and nearly loses his head. There are three shots, in quick succession, aimed with deadly accuracy. He has his lightsaber up in time to deflect the first hit, aimed square between his eyes, and drops below the second. He nearly misses the third, but catches it on the crossguard, shifts his grip, and prepares to lunge. It’s only then that he registers the red hair and startled green eyes.

“ _ Ren _ ?” It’s Hux. Hux, with his hair falling across his forehead and a weeping cut on his check. He’s lowering a blaster and staring at Kylo like he’s never seen him before. “What are you doing here?”

Hux is not locked up in a cell somewhere. Hux is standing in what appears to be a communication room, armed with a blaster, covered in a rather alarming amount of blood. Kylo takes him in. His face is bruised, there is a minor injury to his arm, and Kylo knows there must be an impressive lump on his head from the crash, but besides that he appears unharmed. The blood isn’t his. 

“I’m… rescuing you?” Kylo doesn’t mean for it to sound like a question but that’s how it comes out. 

“Rescuing me? Really. So did your rescue plan intentionally set off every alarm on the continent or was that a happy accident?” Hux tucks the blaster into his belt and turns to the console. There’s a vibroblade stiletto and a datatchip. Hux tucks them both into his sleeve. Kylo thinks of the slumped body in the hall.

“Well? Where’s the extraction point? Is Mitaka piloting? We don’t have much time, Ren.” Hux snaps at him as he grabs a bang and slings it across his chest, moving towards the door, “We need to rendezvous with your extraction team and get out of here, now.”

“There’s no extraction team. It’s just me.” Kylo knows, the moment the words leave his mouth, that he’s said the wrong thing. It’s just that he’s having trouble processing exactly what he’s seeing. He’s thinking about the lack of guards in this wing of the compound. Hux seems to be the answer to the mystery of the missing guards, but Kylo is having trouble processing what that means. “Hux,  _ how _ did you-”

“What do you mean, it’s just you?!” Hux whips around to face Kylo, furious and shocked. “You didn't bring backup? Does anyone even know you’re here?”

Kylo scowls at him, defensive.“I  _ thought _ that I would be able to force a few of the guards to take me to you and then escort us back to my ship. But ever since I landed I’ve-”

“Oh let me guess,” Hux cuts him off. “You can’t use any of your ridiculous little tricks. No tossing things through walls, no choking the life from your enemies, no mind foolery.” 

Kylo is too shocked to be defensive now. “How did you know?”

“Did you really just not read a single word of the dossier, Ren? I didn’t write that up because I was  _ bored _ , there was vital information in that document that you simply couldn't be  _ bothered  _ to even glance over-”

Kylo is so focused on Hux’s rant that he nearly misses it. Hux’s back is to the door, but Kylo sees movement, the glint of the red light cast by his saber reflecting off the muzzle of a blaster. He grabs Hux just as he sees the flash of the shot and throws both of them to the side. He cuts Hux off mid-sentence and the words turn to a pained shout. Kylo was too late, Hux has been shot, and the bastard who pulled the trigger is lining up the next shot. He leaps over Hux’s body and barrels into the shooter. He gets one hand around the man’s neck and stares into his eyes while he slides the lightsaber through his belly.

_ How dare he. How fucking  _ dare  _ he?? I’m going to kill every last one of these rats if it’s that last thing I do! _

“Ren!” Kylo’s head whips around. Hux is alive! Hux is alive and yelling at him. “Get over here and help me up you useless, over dramatic child! We need to  _ go! _ ” 

Kylo leaves the dead man on the floor and returns to Hux. He took the shot to the left thigh. It’s nasty enough that he won’t be able to walk, but it seems to have cauterized the wound. He won’t bleed out immediately at least.

“We need to treat this.” Kylo looks around for anything he can use. He feels frantic. Why does he feel frantic?

“I have a medkit in my bag, but we can not stay here. We need to move somewhere more secure, we can worry about the rest later. There’s an old flight control tower on the west side of the compound with clear sight lines. We need to get there.” Hux slips into his commander role and Kylo wants to bristle at being ordered around, but he’s having trouble focusing on anything but the singed mess of Hux’s thigh. “Get me up, do as I say, we’ll both get out of here in one peice.”

Kylo slings an arm around Hux’s waist and does as he’s told.

* * *

Hux gets them to the flight tower in one piece, as promised. There is significantly more sneaking that Kylo would have prefered but with Hux unable to walk on his own there isn’t much choice. Hux had been resting while Kylo was working on disinfecting the blaster shot, but as he set to work bandaging it Hux seemed to ragin the energy needed to complain.

“Why in all the gods’ names didn’t you reconvene with Mitaka and the others before you came here? Did you really not read the dossier?” Hux groused.

Kylo hissed in a furious breathe. “No, I didn’t read it. I didn’t fucking read the fucking dossier! Stop asking me if I read the dossier! The answer is no! Can we please move on from the gods-damned dossier?” Kylo doesn’t exactly remember jumping to his feet but he now finds himself towering over Hux, who is looking decidedly unimpressed.

Hux is silent for only a moment. “If you  _ had  _ read the dossier you might have been aware that we have a protocol in place for this exact situation. A protocol that would have guaranteed us backup and a successful extraction. You might have  _ also  _ been aware that the south eastern continent of Trezivis Prime has high concentrations of a very particular and a very rare ore. You might have discovered, had you  _ read  _ the dossier, that in such high concentrations this ore emits a unique form of radiation, one that the Jedi of the Old Republic had discovered to interfere with their ability to commune with the force.” Kylo can’t exactly read Hux, cut off as he is, but he can  _ feel _ the censur dripping from every word. Hux’s lip curls as he continued. 

“You might have made yourself aware that by pursuing our attackers here you would not be able to wave your hands around in the air and have your every desire met instantly. You might have allowed those of us with  _ decades _ of  _ actual _ extraction experience to do our kriffing jobs instead of charging in with no plan and no intel and getting me shot!” Hux shouts the last few words at Kylo. He can see the fury in Hux’s eyes even if he can’t feel it. 

Kylo knows, on some level, that Hux is right. He endangered them both by coming here alone with no real plan. But how was he supposed to know that Hux could look after himself?

“How did you even get away? I saw the dead guards in the hall. How did you manage any of that on your own? ” He can hear the petulance in his own voice.

“I am a  _ soldier _ , Ren. I went to a  _ military _ academy. I started training in hand to hand combat when I was 7. Armed combat when I was 9.” Hux’s exasperation is obvious. “This is hardly the most dangerous situation I’ve ever had to get myself out of.” 

Kylo’s face must betray his disbelief because Hux leans his head back against the wall and fixes him with a sneer. “Don’t look so surprised, you ass. We can’t all grow up coddled children of royalty  _ Ren. _ What did you expect?”

“Not that. I thought the Academy was like a finishing school for Officers’ brats, where they send you to learn how to tell people what to do and be generally insufferable.” 

That surprises a bark of laughter out of Hux, breaking the tension. “Maybe it was during the Empire but I wouldn’t know. Hand me the med kit so I can finish with my leg.”

Kylo’s not sure why, but he takes offence to that. “I can do it, if you’d stop nagging me,” he gumbles. Hux looks like he can’t decide whether he’s amused or annoyed by that but he allows Kylo to resume his work without further complaint. However, Kylo can’t quit let it lie. “Why would they have 7 year olds learning hand to hand combat anyway?” 

He’d said it more to himself than Hux but the other answers regardless. “I suppose they thought we’d need whatever army we could get to survive the New Republic. They’d certainly done an impressive job starving us out by then.”

Frowning, Kylo looks up from Hux’s leg. “Starving?” He thinks of the way Hux had spoken to the Council members at dinner, how he’d sounded when he talked about the famines.

Hux raises an elegant brow. “Yes, Ren, starving. The sanctions passed by certain overzealous Senators-” and here Hux gives Kylo a flat look, leaving no question  _ which _ Senator he might be referring to, “made it impossible to get supplies after the Empire fell. We had no medical supplies, no fuel, and no food. The casualties before we could establish supply lines were significant, especially among the younger children.”

He pauses before continuing, more to himself than to Kylo, with a bitter twist to his mouth, “Not that there were significant adjustment to the cadets’ rations afterwards but the old Imperials did start filling out again.”

“What was it like? Really?” Kylo finds that he actually wants to know. Somehow, Hux escaped capture and evaded a hostile military force on his own. It doesn’t mesh with any of the things he thinks he knows about the Colonel and the curiosity is burning.

Green eyes study Kylo for a moment, but he must look as earnest as he feels, because Hux starts talking. It sounds awful. Savage and competitive past the point of necessity. Never allowed enough sleep, never given enough food. The combat drills that Hux describes would commonly result in the maiming or death of cadets as young as 7 or 8. It was a brutal regimen made even more unbearable by Hux’s father. 

Hux speaks around the man in a way the tells Kylo there’s more to the story than he’s letting on. The short version seemed to be that Brendol Hux had actively tried to sabotage his son. Whether it was providing faulty equipment, setting absurd standards, or even setting other cadets on him, the man had gone to great lengths to ensure his son’s failure. But despite it all Hux had not only succeeded but surpassed his classmates tenfold. 

This new information casts Hux in an intriguing new light. As Hux falls silent Kylo studies the man, his hands resting on Hux’s thigh. The wound is tended as well as it can be without further supplies but Kylo lingers regardless. 

Hux glances down at Kylo’s hands, huge where they’re cradling his leg, and clears his throat. “We need a plan.”

Kylo startles and sits back, moving away reluctantly. “Right. Yes. There’s a hanger just to the north of us,” he says, indicating the expanse of shipping containers serving as storage to their north. ”They have ships with hyperdrives, I saw them on my way in. We steal one, jump back to the fleet, come back here with a destroyer and turn this whole place into ash.”

It’s a perfectly good plan, so naturally Hux takes issue with it. “No, we absolutely will not.”

The familiar Hux-related frustration is back with a vengeance. “ _ Why? _ You’re only arguing because  _ I _ came up with the plan, stop being so difficult all of the-”   
  


“Would you stop being so dramatic and _ listen _ for once?” Hu cuts across him like a knife. Begrudgingly, Kylo stops talking. 

“We can not show up here with a Star Destroyer without blowing this entire mission. Snoke would skin us both for even considering it. We need to get back to the capitol and deal with the Council.”

“We would have to dodge fighters the whole way back, and for what? The mission is already blown.” Kylo stands up and begins to pace.

Hux rolls his eyes and produces the data chip Kylo had seen earlier in the bunker. “While you were setting off every alarm on this hemisphere with your theatrics,  _ I _ was working. This chip contains  _ years _ worth of communications between these insurgents, their resistance backers, and  _ Councilor Guilon. _ ” There’s a smile threatening to creep onto Hux’s face. “ _ Direct _ communications Ren. If we take this to the High Councilor he’ll have no choice but to sign the agreement. He’ll sign anything we tell him to. All we have to do is threaten to go public. The people in this system despise the New Republic and the resistance. If it gets out that there are collaborators within the Council it would ruin them all. All we have to do is make it back and they’ll give us anything we want.”

Kylo knew he was right, that the intel on that chip was a coup waiting to happen. But still, “We could still jump back to the fleet and contact them with the same information. It would be safer-”

“I am not going back to the First Order without these supply routes in our control. If  _ you _ want to test Snoke’s good humor you are more than welcome but you’ll do it without me. Besides, since when are you so  _ cautious _ , Lord Ren? Where’s that fighting spirit we know so well?

If Kylo didn't know better he would say there’s something teasing in Hux’s tone. “We need a ship either way.”

“Yes, we do.”

“So we get to the hanger, I fly us out of here and we argue about what to do later.”

Hux sighs, shaking his head. “I’m not making it anywhere on this leg. You’re going to have to get the ship, then come back to pick me up. The tower has good slightlines to the hanger. I can guide you through undetected from here over the comms. It’ll be easy.”

* * *

Kylo doesn’t like the plan, not that Hux was open to debate. The reality is that Kylo is worried to leave Hux alone. He’s injured and barely mobile and stuck at the top of the flight tower with no exit if he’s discovered. When Kylo brought up his concerns Hux had simply given him a considering look, handed him a comm, and told him in that case he’d best be quick.

Now he’s dodging between shipping containers making his way towards the hanger with Hux’s prim voice in his ear. He’s forced to admit to himself that Hux is competent, efficient, and highly distracting. A shiver runs down his spine every time that low voice murmurs orders in his ear, or tells him he’s doing well as he lets Hux direct him. Kylo has always found Hux attractive in a prissy sort of way. He’d considered him a pretty, uptight teacher’s pet type that needed the stick pulled out of his ass. But this new version of Hux, all cold focus and brutal competence, sitting in that tower covered in someone else's blood, is making his mouth water.

Perhaps it’s the intensity of this new attraction that has Kylo wanting to show off a little, or perhaps it’s the lingering resentment at being so wrong about something that has him wanting to act out. Most likely it’s a little of both that makes the decision for him when he rounds a corner and comes upon a group of guards just out of Hux’s line of sight. There’s a split second where he has a chance to duck away before they see him but retreat has never been Kylo’s first instinct. Instead, he ignites his saber.

“What are you doing? There are men on your six, they’ll hear you!” A little late now, Kylo thinks. He’ll just have to handle them too.

The first two drop quickly, taken by surprise. The others need a little more attention. No one would call his style elegant, but it’s certainly efficient. As more men rush him he strikes to kill with the saber and knocks them back with his fists when he can’t land a killing blow. He whittles them down steadily. He thinks to himself that even without the Force they never really stood a chance.

He’s facing off against the last two when animal instinct kicks in. He feels more than sees movement to his left as a man he thought was disarmed and dying springs to his feet and comes at him with a blade. Kylo has already swung towards one of the other men and without the Force the momentum can’t be reversed in time to deflect the blow. Cursing, he throws himself back, not enough to avoid the blow, but hopefully enough to avoid a fatality. 

As he falls, the man coming at him twists in the air strangely and something warm sprays across Kylo’s face. The knife bites into his chest above his ribs but because of the altered trajectory of the assailants’ lunge it’s merely a flesh wound.

As Kylo kicks the man away from him he realizes that the top half of his head seems to be missing. He’s attempting to process exactly what he’s looking at when the other two men, stunned into inaction as Kylo had been, are jerked off of their feet. He watches them fall and registers that they too seem to be missing vital chunks of brain matter. It’s then that he recognizes what he’s seeing.

_ Sniper fire. _

Kylo is on his feet in an instant but before he can pinpoint where the shots came from Hux’s voice is back, purring in his ear. 

“You’re welcome.”

Kylo stares back at the tower. “How-”

“Oh, I borrowed a few things from the armory before you showed up. I do like to be prepared.” Hux sounds supremely satisfied with himself and Kylo can’t find it in him to mind.

He can’t actually see Hux from this distance but he can imagine him; laid out behind the rifle, watching Kylo through the sights. It should make him nervous, but mostly it’s just making him hot.

“That was a hell of a shot.” is all he can think to say.

“Shots, darling. Plural. Haven’t I mentioned, I had top marks in  _ all _ of my classes?” 

_ Darling.  _ Kylo feels dazed.

“Start moving; east around that shipping container. There are more on the way and I only have so much ammunition.”

Yesterday Kylo would have bristled at the very notion that he needed Hux of all people watching his back, at taking orders from him. Today he’s too impressed and too turned on to consider doing anything but what Hux says.

The fight had attracted attention and enough of the insurgents are aware of Kylo’s general location that it’s no longer possible to rely on stealth. Kylo lets Hux direct him towards the hanger, his clean surgical shots clearing the way, Kylo picking off those that are left over. They work together like a well-oiled machine.

Thrown in between the maneuvers and orders Hux keeps up a running commentary, alternating between teasing and flattery. 

After Kylo cleanly beheads an attacker: “Best double check that one, make sure he’s dead.” 

After a particularly good shot from Hux that picked off a man Kylo hadn’t even seen: “I’ve got you darling.”

At one point Kylo picks an insurgent up one handed and throws him back and he could swear he hears muttered under Hux’s breath something that sounds like  _ Kriff he’s strong _ . 

Kylo isn’t sure how Hux is able to spot for him, pick out his own targets, and make increasingly lewd observations about Kylo’s _grip_ on his _lightsaber_, but it’s one more thing to be impressed over. He’s in his element and he’s obviously a fantastic multitasker.

When the chatter cuts out Kylo knows something’s gone wrong.

“Hux, what’s happened?”

“I’ve been made. There’s a half dozen men I can see moving in on my position. You need to hurry.” His voice has gone clipped and businesslike, all traces of teasing gone.

“Take out as many as you can, I’m almost to the hanger. Hold your position.”

“There are four moving towards you from the hangar doors but aside from that you’re clear. Can you make it through on your own?”

“Yes, Hux, worry about yourself!”

“No need to get pushy, Ren,” Hux said, sounding mildly offended before the line goes silent. 

It’s time to show Hux what he was really capable of. Kylo spins his saber in his hand, and then he moves.

* * *

“I heard that explosion, Ren, what did you do? Take out the whole hanger? What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that the fewer fighters these bastards can scramble the better! Stop distracting me! Is your position secure?”

“For now. They’re on the way up. I’ve barricaded the door but it’s not exactly a secure room. What’s your ETA?”

“They’ve got a fighter in the air I need to shake before I can get you, three minutes, maybe five?”

“Three would be better. I’m relying on filing cabinets in front of a fire door, Ren. They have a plasma cutter.”

“Then stop  _ distracting me! _ ”

Mercifully the line went silent and Kylo shifted his focus to the fighter on his tail. It was a small, agile ship made for quick maneuvering. Kylo had chosen one of the larger fighters with more firepower, the same type of ship that had shot his shuttle down earlier that day. It made it almost impossible to actually hit the smaller fighter. He was thanking luck or the Force or whatever was listening that there was only the one to deal with so far.

He needed to get altitude to deal with the fighter. It’s too agile and too good at dodging through the terrain. It would make him a target while he climbed but he hopes it will be enough to bait it into following him. He’ll have the advantage in open sky.

The gamble works. Kylo climbs and the fighter follows, firing after him rapidly. Kylo pushes his ship to its limits swerving around the fire and redirecting the shields to absorb what he can’t dodge. 

They’re both out in the open now. Kylo fires the port thrusters at the same time he cuts the starboard for a fraction of a second, snapping the ship around faster than the smaller fighter can react. He fires wildly as he swings around, willing the shots to connect. He watches, confused at first, as the shots seem to change trajectory midair and arc towards the fighter. Every one of them connect.

It takes Kylo a moment to realize what has happened. At this altitude he’s beyond the influence of the radiation that intereses with his connection to the Force. He’d pushed the shots into the ship. Kylo whoops in glee and reaches out. Everything below is still an odd blur, but knowing it’s there, just above cruising altitude, waiting for him is enough.

Hux’s dry voice on comm cuts through his glee. “I see your wizardry is functioning again. How lovely for you. They’re almost through the door, perhaps you could swing by and retrieve me. At your leisure, of course.” 

“I’m on my way.”

There’s a pause, and then in a conversational tone, “Impressive maneuver by the way. I’m honored to witness such skilled piloting before being shot dead.”

“I’m 30 seconds out, get out on the deck!” Kylo spits through grit teeth. Perhaps he should resign himself to the fact that Hux really can’t stop being a smartass in any situation.

Kylo glances down as he approaches the tower. There are bodies strewn around the base of the tower, far more than the half dozen Hux had initially reported. Smartass or no, Kylo is deeply impressed. He pulls up alongside the flight tower deck and opens the bay doors on the shuttle.

“Get in!”

Hux is swearing as he limps to the ship. The door to the tower control room bursts open just as Hux hauls himself inside. He moves to pull out his sidearm and start firing but Kylo swings the ship around and unloads the ships guns directly into the control room. Hux hobbles into the cockpit in time to see the tower come down. He sits heavily in the copilot’s seat.

“Strap in.” Kyo warns before pulling the ship around. “This bit is going to get a bit rough.”

  
  


* * *

“That was... some impressive flying” Hux says into the silence of the cockpit.

He glances over at Hux. He looks like he means it, there’s something appraising in his eyes and in the way he feels in the Force.

He continues. “What was that trick with the hyperdrive and the capacitor?”

“That? The energy discharge will make it look like we jumped into hyperspace on the scanners. They won’t think to keep looking for the ship.” Kylo turns back to the console to start plotting their course. They’ll take a low orbit route to return to the capitol city. It will be slower than breaking atmo and reentering over the city but less likely to draw attention.

“Why didn’t you just make the jump? It’s not like they’d be able to follow.”

Kylo pulls his attention back to Hux, confused. “You insisted we needed to get back to the capitol.”

Hux’s mind, where Kylo had pressed his own against him the instant he regained the ability, does something complicated. It’s a bit like the way he feels when he’s working on some engineering problem, wholly absorbed by complex equations. Except now Kylo is the subject of the full weight of that sharp mind.

Hux breaks eye contact first, glancing down at Kylo’s torso. “You’re bleeding. You should let me see to that.”

He moves to stand, but Kylo stops him. “Stay off the leg, I’ll find a medkit or something.” Hux nods slowly and eases himself back into the copilots chair. 

There’s something shifting between him and Hux, Kylo can feel it. It’s as if Hux is considering him in a new light. Kylo could admit he had profoundly misjudged the man, perhaps Hux was coming to a similar conclusion?

It doesn’t take long for Kylo to find the medical supplies on the small ship. He returns to the cockpit with everything he could find. Hux reaches for the kit, but Kylo stops him. “Wait, let me get a proper bandage on your leg first.”

He kneels in front of Hux and sets to work removing the dirty wrappings. This time, as he works he lets himself notice the details he’s been trying to ignore. How pale the skin is where he cleans the blood away, how warm he feels, and how very large his own hands look against Hux’s thigh. He can feel the laser focus of Hux’s undivided attention. Kylo has the impression that Hux is noticing the size of his hands too.

“Your turn, Ren. Sit.”

When Kylo looks up there’s a thrilling intensity where those green eyes are watching him. He obeys silently and something pleased and  _ hot _ shoots through him that he realizes is coming form Hux. 

“Take the shirt off so I can get a look at the wound.”

That  _ feeling _ again from Hux when Kylo obeys without argument and strips his top off. He’s always known that Hux is a control freak but if listening to him means Hux will keep looking at him like  _ that _ Kylo decides he doesn't mind.

It’s torture. Hux’s hands are confident as he cleans and dresses the cut. Kylo doesn’t know how he never noticed those hands before, delicate and elegant and oh so deadly and he’s going to burn every set of gloves Hux owns because it’s an absolute crime to keep them tucked away like that.

At some point while Kylo is distracted with those hands Hux finishes his work. He’s hovering now, one palm pressed against Kylo’s ribs just under the injury, the other resting against his bicep. Hux is watching him, waiting.

Kylo takes a chance. He reaches up and reels Hux in with a hand slipping around his neck and into his hair. Apparently he passes whatever test Hux had set because the Colonel leans in willingly as their lips meet. Hux’s hand slides up from Kylo’s bicep and into his hair, tugging his head to the side. Kylo lets him lead, this angle is better anyway.

He’s spent just enough time wanting Hux, in one way or another, that finally having him is a little shocking. His brain nearly short-circuits when Hux crawls fully into his lap. Reflexively he wraps an arm around the other man’s narrow waist. Hux licks into his mouth and rolls his hips and Kylo can  _ feel _ him half hard against his stomach. And Hux can feel Kylo. If what he’s sensing from the other man is accurate he seems rather pleased with what he finds.

Hux pulls back to catch his breath and slides his free hand up from Kylo’s chest to his face. It’s a shame that Kylo’s mouth is no longer occupied because he’s entirely too horny to be smooth.

“You have beautiful hands,” Kylo says and then immediately wonders what the hell is wrong with him.

Hux pulls back to look at him, fighting a smile. “Beautiful  _ hands? _ Really Kylo?”

He’s certain he’s blushing. He can feel the heat in his face all the way up to his ears. There’s no resisting the temptation to reach out and see how badly he just kriffed this up. He’s prepared for annoyance at best and mockery at worst but Hux mostly just seems... charmed.

“And what would you like me to do with my ‘beautiful hands,’ hmm?” Hux is grinning at him now, pleased with the compliment and Kylo’s obvious embarrassment both. He moves the hand that’s not tangled in Kylo’s hair from his jaw to his lips.

Kylo parts his lips and takes two of Hux’s fingers into his mouth, hollowing his checks and sucking. He can feel the way Hux’s breath hitches and the amusement in his eyes is replaced by something hot and hungry. Apparently Kylo has managed another correct answer because Hux rolls his hips again, arching his back and making them both groan. Kylo slides his hands down to palm Hux’s ass and press them closer together. Hux pulls his fingers out of his mouth and grabs Kylo’s face, leaning in for another kiss.

The comm choses that exact moment to squak to life.“Unmarked shuttle, you do not have clearance for this airspace! Identify yourself immediately or you will be shot down!”

They both whip their heads around, cursing. Before Hux has a chance to lean back and reach for the console Kylo stands, picking Hux up with him. Hux lets out a startled yelp and grabs at Kylo’s shoulders for purchase but Kylo merely deposits him in the copilot seat. Kylo reaches for the panel to open a channel. He glances over at Hux to see if he wants to handle this but Hux is staring at him with wide,  _ interested _ , eyes and Kylo is treated to a sudden flash of a very  _ vivid _ image of himself holding Hux up while he-

_ Oh fuck _

Kylo’s hand slips where he’s leaning against the console. He’s fairly certain he’s bitten his tongue.

Hux is giving him a  _ look _ , like he knows exactly what Kylo just saw. Kylo considers murdering whoever is hailing them but Hux is already leaning forward to respond.

Kylo is so hard he’s light headed but Hux is already slipping back into immaculate professionalism. He’s demanding an escort back to the capitol, the man on the other end stuttering out his acquiescence . Watching Hux snap orders into the comm isn’t making him any less hard.

* * *

The rest goes smoothly, as Hux said it would. The High Councilor is there to meet them when they land. So are Hux’s officers, and if the looks the Guard are giving are any indication, they have been hard at work making everyone very nervous. Hux demands a private audience with the High Councilor right there on the landing pad, producing the data chip and explaining exactly what’s going to happen next. The man’s face goes very pale as Hux talks and when Mitaka produces a datapad for him to sign he does so without complaint.

Kylo watches him work, incredibly thankful that his tunic hides how much he’s enjoying the show.

* * *

Snoke had dismissed Kylo nearly an hour ago. He’d been pleased by the success of the mission, commended them both, and sent Kylo away while he discussed the details of Hux’s new role. If asked, Kylo would vehemently deny that he had spent that time loitering near Hux’s rooms. Fortunately there was no one on the Supremacy suicidal enough to question anything that Kylo Ren did, except perhaps for the man he’s waiting for.

Hux’s step falters when he rounds the corner and sees Kylo waiting at his door. Then there’s that smirk again, there and gone, and he moves to punch in his codes.

Kylo crowds against Hux’s back, well into his personal space. “How did it go?” 

Hux turns so they’re chest to chest and raises a brow. This time he doesn’t bother to hide the smirk. “I made General and I’m getting command of my own Star Destroyer.”

The smug satisfaction looks good on him. Kylo can finally admit it to himself. “General? Isn’t that a bit of a jump from Colonel?”

“I suppose I’m just that impressive.”

“I suppose so.”

“Why don’t you come inside and help me celebrate, Lord Ren?”

“That sounds like a fantastic plan, General.”


End file.
